Thursday, May 06, 2010

Hello,This week the Kansas Government Information blog helps to get the word out on the State's new smoking ban law website. This bill and website will help your communities in the transition to a smoke-free state. Learn more at the KGI blog: http://ksdocs.blogspot.com/2010/05/kansas-goes-smoke-free.html.Thank you,

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

The State Library of Kansas is announcing some changes to our statewide database package beginning August 1, 2010. The new focus of products available to everyone in the state, from preschool to seniors, allows us to expand our offerings in some needed areas.

No changes are planned to the current ProQuest products (Heritage Quest and Nursing / Allied Health Journals). The current Gale package which includes Chilton’s Auto Repair, Literature Resource Center, and OneFiles will remain. WorldBook Encyclopedia will continue as part of the statewide package.

As of July 31, our contracts with OCLC for WorldCat and the Ebsco products will end. These include Searchasaurus, Kid Search, TopicSearch, Student Research Center, ERIC, Professional Development Collection, Newspaper Source, and Novelist.

(from http://statelibrary.mykansaslibrary.org/ on 4May 2010)For Kansas job seekers, new help has arrived. The State Library of Kansas just inked a three-month trial deal with LearningExpress Library to offer extensive online resources including occupational and scholastic practice tests, skill-building courses and a segment of the service titled, “Job and Career Accelerator.”

“This is a fabulous addition to the research databases that we already offer to all Kansans,” explained State Librarian Jo Budler. “It’s an amazing collection of individual exercises, full-blown courses, and practice tests ranging from third grade math problems, to middle school grammar questions, to preparing for the ACT, GED, and even the test for US Citizenship.”During the trial period (May – July), Kansas library users will access the LearningExpress Library by clicking on the link found on the State Library homepage – http://www.kslib.info . Alternately, users can also click on the LearningExpress Library graphic on the Blue Skyways homepage, http://www.skyways.org . All users will need to create a unique account within LearningExpress to view course offerings, practice tests, or career and training information and to save any created files, such as a new resume.

Regardless of an individual’s goal, LearningExpress Library’s resources promote success. Twelve different Learning Centers from elementary through college levels plus computer skills, GED and new workplace skills training offers the exercises, the courses, the practice tests, and the information needed to be successful at school, at work, or in life. Looking to land a job? The Job and Career Accelerator will identify strengths and weaknesses, help with resume writing, and even monitor postings on job boards.

Users should check out:

1) Practice Tests for Careers such as electrician, plumber, air traffic controller, and military aviation; 2) eBooks that assist in preparation for careers in Civil Service such as EMT, or police, or healthcare occupations such as paramedic or nurse’s aide; 3) Extensive list of flash-based computer skill tutorials to learn Microsoft programs such as Power Point, Excel, Word or Outlook Express, and Adobe. 4) US Citizenship Test Practice, With 100 civics, history, and government questions, this practice test offers all the preparation you need to pass the newly redesigned naturalization test… more info including hundreds of questions, all taken from the official naturalization test and geared toward achievement of the best possible scores. 5) GED materials with study strategies, pretests and lessons, and exam practice questions.

Founded in 1995, LearningExpress currently holds statewide library contracts with 16 states, making the database available through more than 4,000 libraries and 5,000 academic sites. Last year, approximately 1.5 million users accessed LearningExpress’ online resources.

“There are hundreds of amazing testimonials from people who have used this database,” said Budler. “one from Michigan—a young man who passed the EMT test, scoring the highest of all people who took the class with him. He used the practices tests in LearningExpress to prepare. We hope to duplicate those kind of success stories in Kansas,” Budler added.